Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is a

neuropsychological test Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks that are used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. Tests are used for research into brain function and in a clinical setting f ...

used to assess capacity and rate of information processing and sustained and divided attention. Originally the test was known as the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The subjects are given in the version used as part of the

Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite The Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) is a clinical trial outcome measure of assessing the severity of multiple sclerosis primarily used in research. The score is based on a combination of timed tests of walking, arm function, and cogn ...

a number every 3 seconds and are asked to add the number they just heard with the number they heard before. This is a challenging task that involves

working memory Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, ...

, attention and arithmetic capabilities. Versions with numbers presented every 2 seconds are also available. The original version presented the numbers every 2.4 seconds with 0.4 decrements for subsequent trials. The PASAT was originally developed for use in evaluating patients with

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

. The advantage in this population was supposed to be minimal practice effects. This test has been widely used in other conditions besides

traumatic brain injury A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...

Multiple sclerosis

It has become widely used in the testing of patients with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

as patients with this disease frequently have an impaired performance on this test. The PASAT was included in the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite Fischer S. et al. (2001) Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite, New York; The National Multiple Sclerosis Society http://pasat.us/PDF/MSFC_Manual.pdf seen Oct 26, 2010 as a cognitive measure. However, the use of the PASAT in

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s in MS it has shown to be problematic as there are significant practice effects over repeated measures; typically the effect of treatment is reflected by a larger improvement on the test compared to the

control group In the design of experiments, hypotheses are applied to experimental units in a treatment group. In comparative experiments, members of a control group receive a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all. There may be more than one tr ...

References

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